Pie Crust Problem

[rodentraiser]

I usually buy my pie crusts already baked, but I decided I would try something different. So a month or so ago, I made my own pie crust, rolled it out, and placed it in the pie dish. I was using a Teflon dish at the time.

I baked the pie crust in the oven and when I checked on it, the entire crust had slid off the edge and into the dish.

OK, thinks I, no more Teflon.

So last week I got a pre-made pie crust and put it in the pie dish (a glass one this time) and stuck it in the oven to bake. When I checked it, it had slid off the sides of the dish and was about an inch high.

I have a feeling that pie crust isn't supposed to do this, so what am I doing wrong?

 

[Andy M.]

What's the point of baking empty pie crusts?

 

[msmofet]

Use pie weights or beans to bake blind crust.

 

[rodentraiser]

What's the point of baking empty pie crusts?

Because I'm going to fill it with a cream cheese base and chocolate on top. I can't bake that.

 

[rodentraiser]

Use pie weights or beans to bake blind crust.

It's not the bottom that's the problem. It's the sides of the pie crust. Instead of staying against the sides of the pie dish, they fall down on the inside of it and bake that way.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Lucky you, rr, that I waste eons of time reading food things online. I just ran across some information on blind baking that might help. From Serious Eats:

For the best results, line your pie plate with your dough, then transfer it to the freezer for about 10 minutes in order to really firm it up before lining it with foil or parchment.

Since the sides are sliding, I'm thinking that if you fill the plate with enough volume of beans or weights, it will then keep the sides up long enough to let the crust begin to bake in place instead of ending up in a puddle at the bottom. Good luck!

 

[Aunt Bea]

Another vote for beans or pie weights!

If you don't want to use weights then I would try docking the crust prior to baking.

Blind Baking a Pie Crust - Grand Central Bakery

 

[medtran49]

You also have to be careful not to stretch the dough when you are placing it in the pie pan and forming it to fit. Putting it in the freezer for a few minutes and/or in the fridge for a minimum of half an hour will help too. You might also try forming into a disk, wrapping with plastic wrap and resting your dough in the fridge for a while before rolling it out.

 

[rodentraiser]

Thanks, everyone! I tried another (and final) pre-made pie crust last night and this time, I rolled it out so it would completely cover the pie dish. That meant overlapping the edges of the pie dish instead of dough just coming up the sides of it. I also made sure it went right to the edges of the dish and that seemed to work.

I thought that too, Medtran, and I had the dough in the fridge right up until the time it was it was put in the dish.

 

[rodentraiser]

Lucky you, rr, that I waste eons of time reading food things online. I just ran across some information on blind baking that might help. From Serious Eats:

For the best results, line your pie plate with your dough, then transfer it to the freezer for about 10 minutes in order to really firm it up before lining it with foil or parchment.

Since the sides are sliding, I'm thinking that if you fill the plate with enough volume of beans or weights, it will then keep the sides up long enough to let the crust begin to bake in place instead of ending up in a puddle at the bottom. Good luck!

I do the same thing with dollhouses. I ran across a room addition that I had no need for but was going to buy because it was such a good price. A day later, someone on our dollhouse forum bought the very house the room addition was made for, so I gave her a link and now the addition has a new home with a happy owner. I love it when things work out like that.

I'm fine with using the beans (didn't have any though), but how in the world did they bake pies in the old days before filling them with parchment paper and beans? And what I can't understand is why I never had this problem before.

I just got a new pie dish and it's larger than the one I had before, so the dough didn't quite stretch all the way around so it could be crimped. Maybe that's why.

And thank you for the link Aunt Bea!